Inauguration

Ever notice how Barack and Michelle Obama love telling the American people how much they will have to work?

In a free country a president does not tell people they must work hard. In a free country a president does not lecture people on their responsibilities. That is the kind of talk you get in a dictatorship. In free country, whether people work hard and bear responsibilities is up to the individual, and he bears the consequences of his actions.

In a free country a president does not tell bankers and car manufacturers what to do; those industries, like all industries in a free country, are owned and operated by free individuals. Today in America they are controlled by the state.

America is no longer a free country; it is a mixture of controls and freedom. At noon today we lost a little bit more of our freedom. America is less free today than it was yesterday.

Barack Obama assumes power over a nation that he loves to remind us is suffering a dire crisis. He fails to understand that the crisis is due to massive intervention in the economy by the state. His solution to the crisis is much more massive intervention in the economy.

Obama speaks grimly of the work we must do and the responsibilities we must bear because he hopes Americans will sacrifice for the collective good. It is his only conception of how to deal with the crisis: lead the collective in sacrifice. I also suspect that he is grateful for the crisis. He needs a crisis to justify the titanic expansion of state power he and the Democrat Congress intend to force down America’s throat.

Behind the rhetoric and the stern face he mugs like a bad actor indicating to the audience “my character is being serious,” lies a con man. He needs Americans to sacrifice to the collective so he can expand the power of the state. Other than that, I don’t think he has the slightest idea what he is doing.

I did not share the joy on the faces in the crowd at the Inauguration. They were happy not because of what Obama intends to do but because of who he is. It is good that America elected the first black man to be president, but this is a minor issue. What Obama does is far more important than the amount of melanin in his skin.

For decades the New Left has longed to reshape America along the lines of the more advanced welfare states in Europe — to make America more socialist, but to stop short of the nationalization of industry. It is a fascist vision.

The left has suffered a lot of frustration over the years. In the ’70s America reacted to the excesses of the ’60s and the McGovern campaign in 1972 by turning to the right. A quarter century of prosperity followed. That period ended around the year 2000.

Since 2000 America has been swinging to the left. Finally, the New Left has taken control of the presidency and both houses of Congress. Their long period of frustration is over. Now the moment has come for the left to reshape America according to their ideals of collectivism, statism and altruism.

We are in for four years of relentless assault on capitalism and individual freedom. An easy prediction: four years from now America will be less free than it is today. How much less depends on how bold the Democrats are, how laughable the Republicans are, and how ignorant and corrupt the American people are. As Benjamin Franklin said, when asked what they were creating in the Constitutional Convention, “A republic — if you can keep it.” Now we find out just how much freedom a people indoctrinated with New Leftist pieties in government schools can keep.

19 responses so far ↓

His invocations to work didn’t go unnoticed by this observer. I plan to spend the next four years (or eight years *sigh*) working my pants off trying to reverse his working. However, my work will not be a sacrifice at all and I’m glad that I won’t be alone in the effort. Maybe collectively we can achieve the decollectivization of America.

“It is good that America elected the first black man to be president, but this is a minor issue.”

Race is a major red herring in all this. Its true that America has overcome one form of collectivism, namely racial collectivism. But it is sprinting at break neck speed to embrace myriad other forms of collectivism, most importantly socialism. Also, I don’t see racism as dying either. To me the black population is the most racist demographic in America. And the multiculturalism of the Left is pure racism. To a Leftist, race is everything. Obama’s election was not a victory of individualism.

This has been one of the most depressing days of my life. I feel as disgusted as Billy Beck who has been posting sentiments which I agree with 100%. I’m looking at the liberals around me and they just don’t seem fully human. They are all pod people. Its tough to keep a benevolent universe premise in all this. It really is.

For the sake of my own mental health I make sure to avoid any political speeches and whatnot: I stick only to articles and transcripts.

I understand how Madmax feels; it’s horrible. I hate how when I hear my associates around me speak about how wonderful Barack is despite not being able to provide any reasoning whatsoever, and still they cop a superiority attitude about it.

But let us remember that there are more Objectivists than there ever have been and are still growing. The toughest battles in the world were fought as a single man v. the entire world. We at least don’t have to worry about a titanic battle on THAT scale.

That, and perhaps people won’t be so cheery once reality surfaces. If a second depression were to occur I doubt much “hope” could be aroused.

Ben Skipper makes an excellent point: “That, and perhaps people won’t be so cheery once reality surfaces.”

This period is reminiscent of the coronation of John Kennedy. The period shortly after that was likened to Camelot. However, Kennedy began the disastrous Second War of Altruism (after Korea) and launched the movement that grew into the “Great Society” of President Johnson.

There was recovery, of a sort, from all that in the eighties and early nineties, enough to buy time. (Listen to Yaron Brook’s and Onkar Ghate’s lectures, “Cultural Movements: Creating Change.”)

For the first time in my nearly 65 years, I am hopeful, based on fact. The growth and, more importantly, the development of the Objectivist movement is the key: individuals acting alone, acquiring skills and specialized knowledge; as well individuals forming organizations, and speaking out.

We have no intellectual opposition. It will be an exciting time for those who focus their efforts and become productive in their activism rather than only bewail.

“We have no intellectual opposition. It will be an exciting time for those who focus their efforts and become productive in their activism rather than only bewail.”

This will be unpopular but I don’t think cultural activism will accomplish anything for people living today. The conclusion I am drawing is that cultural inertia is too strong in the direction of collectivism. Ayn Rand is the philosopher of tomorrow not today. We may have already passed the point of no return.

Can the Objectivist movement radically change U. S. culture in the next 20 years? I would say, of course not.

I think Yaron Brook and Onkar Ghate are on the right track when they suggest the goal should be to turn the culture around, that is, alter the direction enough to offer breathing room intellectually and economically. The goal then is to do something like what the “free-market” people did in the 1980s and early 1990s: loosen up controls a little. They failed to succeed further because they had no bottom, that is, no foundation for their politics. Or worse, their foundation was antithetical to their free-market recommendations. Ours isn’t.

Many individuals in it are active disseminators in one form or another. By working with them, I am already living in a better “world,” even if I haven’t immediately changed the politics or other aspects of the culture through my other activities ( http://www.aristotleadventure.blogspot.com ).

“In a free country a president does not tell people they must work hard. In a free country a president does not lecture people on their responsibilities. That is the kind of talk you get in a dictatorship. In free country, whether people work hard and bear responsibilities is up to the individual, and he bears the consequences of his actions.”

I can’t remember where I read it, but someone said something to the effect of “Some people just want to be led”.

*Shrug*

“Also, I don’t see racism as dying either. To me the black population is the most racist demographic in America.”

It’s tolerated–by the left anyway. Perhaps it’s seen as some sort of reparation, I don’t know. Look at the actions of some public figures during the Duke Lacrosse situation. Remember the Jena 6?

Oh well…the whole thing is just so nauseating; honestly, I don’t even get upset anymore.

It’s tolerated–by the left anyway. Perhaps it’s seen as some sort of reparation, I don’t know.

The Left repudiates racism qua doctrine of genetic determinism– but then proceeds to swap out the determining factor from genetics to culture (or commonly “experience”) and then happily proceeds to promulgate the altered doctrine as though it were something completely different.

Or, to put it another way: they swap in “nurture” for “nature”, and change nothing else. Big deal.

This charade won’t be going on for much longer, as racism is one of the oldest siblings from the misbegotten family of collectivism, and logic dictates that the prodigal son will return home.